Monday, April 30, 2012

Mustafina Interview

Latest reason to hurry up with mastering Russian. I find her eyes and facial expressions even more fascinating than her gymnastics.

Question: Is that Nabieva seated with the other girls behind her?

Tatiana Nabieva was previously sent home to get in shape before being allowed to train with the National Team after a series of illness and injuries. She was still considered on the short list of Olympic Team contenders. The Russians are looking for an Amanar. She is unlikely to rotate one fully, but one could think she has a head start on learning the skill over some of the other girls.

yeah, this is straight after her win in 2010. The interviewer asks her whether she understands the meaning of such a win and what she feels. She replies that she thinks so. She feels happiness and a desire to keep on winning and winning. Apparently she had grown 20 cm over those past two years and corresponding weight. She says it was hard to adjust, hard to do certain moves, but nonetheless she eventually got things straightened out. Wow, she's a woman of words. The interviewer is leading her on about how difficult it must have been not to quite gymnastics, and she's like, yep. She's then asked how she came to train under Aleksandr Sergeevich. She says from her childhood she had been with someone else, but once she had grown up some and become more adult, she and her former trainer couldn't find a common language and that the trainer only saw her own way, but Aliya felt that she needed something else. Aleksandr Sergeevich, where trained girls like Belasercheva, understood me, she says. It's very easy to work with him. The interviewer asks, "Is it true that with your last couch you would sometimes even refuse to do what was asked of you, that you would stand there for long periods of time, silent, and refuse to listen?" "Yes, that's true, it happened sometimes." She then asks what Aleksandr said to her before she came to train with her, as a way to solve that problem. He apparently said that he wants to and can help her, and she believed him. The interviewer asks what is hardest about gymnastics, then lists a bunch of possibilities related to living at round lake, living with a bunch of girls, having food and activities strictly controlled, etc. Aliya says tat none of that is an issue anymore because she is long used to that life and that even when she goes home she feels uncomfortable, like she's not home, but when she returns to the base, she feels at home, like it is hers (familiar, she's not being possessive or dramatic, it's a common Russian phrase to mean you feel comfortable someplace by saying it feels like it is yours). The trainer says that soon Aliya will be at the age where boys may start to become a serious interest, will she hold off or balance the two? Aliya responds that for the moment she will not mix the two, that while she is a gymnast she will not have any boyfriends or anything like that. She says she has a chance to do something with gymnastics, to make a life in it down the road. This prompts the interviewer to ask about her future life, they attend less schooling at Round Lake the interviewer says, has Aliya given much thought to life after gymnastics and her education. Aliya says no, she hasn't thought about it. You haven't even dreamed? No.